What are the fastest 20 guage slugs?

I am using a nef handi rifle with a heavy rifled barrel 3" chamber.

Last I looked, iirc, it was a 3" Federal Trophy Copper load shooting a 5/8oz sabot slug at 1900fps.

Federal gives a trajectory 3.4" high at 100yds, zero at 150, -8.3 at 200yds.

JPK

remignton Accutips are up there, but I don't have the figures. They work great for me

I used the 3" trophy copper slug last year on a buck.

I really like the Hornady SST in my 12 ga slug gun. 2000 fps and shoots great. The 20 ga is just a little slower at 1800 fps, but several friends have them and love them.

quote:

Originally posted by RMiller:
I used the 3" trophy copper slug last year on a buck.

My son uses them. He has had great success with them. Last year he took a heck of a nice 8pt at about 85yds, and I think the year before a couple of does. Very accurate in his Mossberg 500 20ga with cantilever scope mount.

JPK

Well,

Adding to his success with the 20 Federal Trophy Copper load, my 14yr old son shot a nice whitetail this last Saturday during our youth season. The buck was a fighter and had three broken tines.

Here is a photo of this year's buck:


After we got it loaded:


And here is a photo of the buck he got last year, also during youth season. This one was also a fighter, with the end of one main beam broken and some broken tines:


Both deer are showing the exit holes.

On this year's deer the deer was slightly quartering away at about 45yds. The slug went in behind the shoulder and exited where you see the exit hole and blood. The offside should was broken. The exit hole is not large and I think the slug lost all of it's petals going through the shoulder. My son, who did the gutting, told me the damage inside was extensive. The deer went maybe 30yds or so.

Last year's deer was shot quartering slightly toward and the entrance wound was just behind the shoulder. My son didn't realize the angle and the shot was a couple of inches further back than perfect. The onside lung was trashed, but the offside was not. This deer went about 125yds or so.

JPK

There are several good 20 gauge sabot loads out there and are probably within 100-150fps of one another. You might want to invest in a couple 5-packs and see which groups best for your gun and extracts without any drama. And also factor in availability.

Once you find the load, invest in a good supply and be happy. Accuracy and bullet performance on game would be more important than slightly more f.p.s.

Happens my gun (Savage 220) shoots Federal 3" with 5/8 oz Barnes Expander very well and I secured enough to last me. Terminal ballistics seem good; the Barnes bullets have gone through the deer I've shot with them and haven't blown up on bone.

My son used to use the Federal 3" 20ga Barnes Expander load as well, until he ran out of them and couldn't get more because Federal stopped making them.

I think their performance was about the same as the "replacement" Trophy Copper load, if not a little better. My son hasn't shot enough deer with the Trophy Coppers yet to generate a really accurate comparison but the Barnes seemed to hold their petals better.

There is no difference in accuracy in my son's gun, both are extremely accurate, better than a lot of rifles.

It is good advice, once you have found a load your gun likes and which performs well on game, to buy a lot of that load. The ammo companies seem to change their slug loads much more frequently than their rifle loads, and that can be a pita, leading to having to find a new load too often.

JPK

I just did a slug shoot-off for my H&R Ultra Slug Hunter before the season started. I used to use Hornady SST's all the time, but figured I'd see what else was out there. The Remington Accutips are at 1850 fps IIRC and shot orders better than anything else I tried. I'm talking a sub-1 inch group at 50 yards. The previous best was twice that with the SST's.

We shot 5 deer this year with the SST's and they did well again. Most were simple pass throughs. That's over ten we have shot with them.

I experienced a bullet failure with the Hornaday SSt's this year. I had thought I missed on my first shot at a large doe who had stepped into a clearing barely 75 yards away, it was a borrowed gun and I had not shot it before. I managed to knock her down a short distance later and did not give my first shot much thought, writing it off to poor shooting. I usually shoot pretty decent, I can not ever remember missing a standing deer so close. Upon cleaning the deer I found my first bullet lodged firmly against the front leg bone and very slightly bent. I can only assume that a light powder charge on the assembly line was to blame. It was obviously moving well under ideal velocity to not break the bone or mushroom the bullet. That was a first for me. On the bright side, I can still hit a deer standing still inside 100yards .
Steve